Brendan Rodgers says he has to put the team first as Leicester City fans grow impatient to see Kelechi Iheanacho in the starting line-up. The City manager has so far left the Nigerian striker out of the club’s 11 this season, despite his terrific run of form at the end of the last campaign that saw him finish as top scorer. Asked if it was becoming more difficult to leave Iheanacho out of the starting line-up,
Brendan Rodgers said: “I’m just really happy with the contribution. I see him every day, I know his strengths and I know the areas he can improve on. What he’s doing is he’s making an impact, and I think that’s how it started for him here, I was bringing him into games and he was doing well. It’s nice now that people have the confidence in him that he’s going to contribute. There will be enough opportunities over the course of the season for him to start games. It’s really about the team, I’m not so much worried about the individual, I need to pick a team that I feel is going to win, and if I need to change a game, I have a bench to be able to do that, and that’s what we have. I’m always supportive of the individual player, but the team is always more important. You can’t play with six attacking players. He’s a very important player for us, whether he comes into the game or whether he starts.”
Iheanacho himself has said he is “not bothered” about being patient for chances and is confident he will get opportunities. That first start of the season could come as early as this Thursday, when City host Napoli in their Europa League opener. If he does start, he will hope to pick up where he left off last season, when he scored or set up 17 goals in the final 15 matches of the campaign, making him one of the most in-form strikers in Europe. He now has 40 goals for City since joining the club in 2017, putting him 46th on the club’s all-time list.
